A much reduced Tottenham side
was put out to face Borussia Dortmund, who fielded a strong starting
XI and the home side ran out easy 3-0 winners, with a performance
that could have reaped a more convincing winning margin.

Mauricio Pochettino had fielded
a side that had seven changes form Saturday's Premier League game
with Arsenal, but it proved a rotation too much and left Spurs with
their heads spinning by Dortmund's profession performance that
ensured wave after wave of attacks rained down on Hugo Lloris' goal.
Only some slack finishing and some stalwart defending kept the end
result down to three.

While Spurs had the first
shot of the half with Eriksen unable to find enough space past
Wiedenfeller and the keeper saved the Dane's shot from 20 yards
quite simply. That was as good as it got for the first 45 minutes,
as soon Dortmund got the taste for holding the ball and Spurs
uncharacteristically kept giving it away. Perhaps not surprising, as
the team lacked an out ball and the play kept coming back.

Aubameyang should have done better when slid in by Mkhitaryan and he
guided the ball past Hugo Lloris, but wide of the goal and then Durm
did the same when one-on-one with the keeper. Carroll's jump did
just enough to put off the Dortmund and Gabon striker, who hit a
volley just over Lloris' bar, but when a cross came in on the half
hour, Aubameyang isolated Ben Davies and rose above him to plant a
header low down to Lloris' left bottom corner as the keeper couldn't
react. Before the goal, Lloris had been forced to make a good
reaction save when Weigl drilled in a shot from outside the box and
it dropped to Aubameyang, who tucked it away, but he had been
offside when the first shot came in.

Into the second half, Son looked to break into the box, but had Sven
Bender close to him and it looked a little too close, as the Korean
went down and the defender hadn't touched the ball. The assistant
referee behind the goal couldn't see it and it was right in front of
him !!

Aubameyang almost nicked another by dinking a through ball over
Lloris, but the ball was going wide until Castro go on the end of
it, to hit a shot from a narrow angle a yard out. Unfortunately for
him, the ball hit the outside of the post and bounced out. Spurs had
Wimmer back on the line anyway, but it was a let off. With
play too loose, Spurs allowed the home team to spray the ball around
and when they won a corner on the hour. When it was played short and
crossed in, it was flicked on in the middle by Subotic to the far
post, where Reus volleyed past Lloris at his post from a tight angle
to make it 2-0.

Ten minutes later the home team made it three when a chipped ball
through by Weigl to Reus ten yards out and Wimmer's desperate
attempt to connect with the ball missed, leaving the midfielder to
guide his shot past Lloris and put the game out of Tottenham's
reach.

Son almost got Tottenham back into it when he went past a couple of
players in their box and created a shooting opportunity, but his
left foot shot was weak and easily saved. Kane soon replaced him as
Pochettino looked for an away goal to salvage something from the
tie, but only a free-kick from substitute Erik Lamela threatened. It
was too high for Alderweireld and the keeper had it covered. Onomah
ran at the Borussia defence and looked like he was fouled right on
the edge of the box, but the referee said the defender won the ball.
When Josh got the ball with a few minutes left, he had the chance to
put Kane through, but his over-hit pass allowed the goalie to come
out and clear.

Mkhitaryan almost got a fourth, but after finding space in the box
to the left of the goal, he hit a weak shot that dribbled way past
Lloris' left hand post. When Spurs went forward, Alderweireld's run
allowed space for Trippier on the right, but his cross went
harmlessly out of play.

The Tottenham players were
probably pleased to hear the final whistle and whilst Spurs had been
out-done on the field, the fans had often made themselves heard
above the orchestrated chanting of the famous "Yellow Wall" at the
other end. The atmosphere was good, but it did not match up to
the hyped reports about the fans at the stadium and I can only echo
Wyart
Lane's comments about the pre-season trip to Bayern Munich.

Starting in the line-up, Josh Onomah was a surprise inclusion, but
he did a decent job, making some good runs and holding onto the ball
well. The main problem came in front of the back four, where Ryan
Mason and Tom Carroll failed to provide the barrier to the defence
that Dembele and Dier often do. That both exposed the back four and
removed the link in playing the ball out from the back. It allowed
Dortmund to attack at will and heaped pressure on the defence. It
hardly surprising that they cracked and suffered the heaviest defeat
of the season, but it wasn't the strongest XI and while that line-up
might play at the Lane, trying to claw back this deficit will be
more than a challenge.

Purcell Cole

PUB
FACT*

Borussia Dortmund
took their name from the Leigh Francis series about his cynical
take on Russian celebrity to dubbed into German called "Bo Russia
Selecta".

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What you
thought

Stan Chun

I
agree with you, that it was a mistake to play Mason and
Carroll in front of the back four, but Poch hasn't got it wrong very
often this season and without Dier and Alli, it shows how important
they both are to the side, despite their tender years. There
are also vital league games coming up, so the temptation to rotate
the team to allow recovery time for important players must have been
in Mauricio's mind too.

It's been a good run and with
the players still up for it, let's give it all until the end of the
season and see what that will bring !!

-

-.

Other scores
in the Round of 16 First legs :

Athletic Bilbao (SPA)

1

Valencia (SPA)

0

Thursday

FC Basel (SWI)

0

Sevilla (SPA)

0

Thursday

Fenerbahce (TUR)

1

Sporting Braga (POR)

0

Tuesday

Manchester
United

2

Liverpool

0

Thursday

Shakthar Donetsk (UKR)

3

Anderlecht (BEL)

1

Thursday

Villarreal (SPA)

2

Bayer Leverkusen (GER)

0

Thursday

Sparta Prague (CZE)

1

SS Lazio (ITA)

1

Thursday

* Pub facts may not actually be true, but after a
few pints everyone will think so.